Rousseff comes out for Petrobras and against corruption

President Dilma Rousseff has again come out in support of Petrobras, called people to action against corruption and said the country will pick up a “faster pace of growth than many expect.” Speaking at a ceremony at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) on Thursday (Dec. 18) where she was awarded her re-election diploma, she went on to say that the responsibility of elected officials is to deliver a good administration, and that of runners-up is to play their opposition role in the best possible way. “A democratic election is no war – there are no losing sides,” she said, in a reference to her opponent in the election run-offs, Aécio Neves, and a petition submitted by his party, PSDB, to overthrow her from office for abuse of power during the election campaign.

Rousseff gave her address just after TSE Chief Justice Dias Toffoli handed her the diploma that entitles her to be sworn into another term as president on January 1.

The president explicitly mentioned the Petrobras corruption scandal, noting that although many of the oil company members were implicated, Brazilians should not lose their trust “in the most Brazilian of all Brazilian companies.” She maintained that it is the people that must be punished for what they did, rather than destroying the company. “We are bravely taking action to address these issues, so as to turn them into transformational energy,” she said.

The president insisted that the truth about all wrongdoing must be accurately established, and new approaches created, to ensuring that what happened at Petrobras will not happen again.

“We must not look the other way when the truth is plain clear for all of us to see. It's high time Brazil put an end to corruption,” said Rousseff, calling on all Brazilians to form a wide national pact against corruption which in her view would result in a much-needed political reform. This, she said, would require new public ethical principles to emerge among the current and next generations. “I want to be the president who helped bring this process to a point of no return,” she said.

“We are fortunate enough to live in a country where the truth is no longer afraid of coming out,” Rousseff said. But holding wrongdoers accountable should not diminish the merits and the importance of the company, according to the president. What Petrobras needs, according to the president, is continued governance investment. “Petrobras and Brazil are bigger than any of these issues and crises. This means we can overcome them and come out of this better and stronger than before,” she concluded.

*With additional reporting by André Richter.

Translated by Mayra Borges

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